Young Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli, gave an inspiring performance to play out an entertaining draw against the legendary Anatoly Karpov on day four of the prestigious 14th Anatoly Karpov Rapid International Chess Tournament here on Monday. However, she could not end the day blemish free and lost out to Bacrot Etienne in her second game of the day.
Harika Dronavalli
Starting in white pieces in her round seven game against the former World Champion Karpov of Russia with an ELO rating of 2628, Harika, the lone Indian player at tournament began on an attacking note and matched her opponent move by move. She however, could not capitalize on her good start and Karpov brought all his experience into play and staved off a strong challenge to escape with a draw in the game which lasted for 51 moves.
In the second game, she was up against the local favourite Etienne Bacrot. Harika, the World no. 5 who had already lost to him once in tournament went into the tie seeking retribution. However, the Frenchman who is the highest rated player in the tournament with an ELO rating of 2692 proved to be the better player on the day and walked away with a hard fought victory.
Talking about her performance during the day, Harika said, “I had a great chance to win the first game. I was in better position in the middle and was slightly better than him all through the game. But unfortunately, I could convert my chances and had to settle for a draw.” “There are still few games left and I believe that if I can make them count, then I do stand to qualify for the knock-out stages,” the Hyderabadi lass added.
Harika, who is currently fifth on the points table will now take on the Spaniard Sabrina Vega Gutierrez and local lad Matthieu Cornette on day five. She will have to be on top of her game on the day and will have to try and take maximum points from the outings to keep her